Congress funds geothermal energy research with $150 million per year.
H.R. 8790 — Next-Generation Geothermal Research and Development Act · Filed by Pat Harrigan (R-NC) · 1 cosponsor · Introduced May 13, 2026 · Passed chamber
Your members of Congress
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What it does
The bill gives $150 million each year through 2031. It funds study of new geothermal energy types. The bill creates a center to lead research. Federal agencies will share underground data with each other. The U.S. Geological Survey will study supercritical geothermal. Supercritical geothermal is the hottest type. It will study whether it can work in U.S. territories like Puerto Rico and Guam.
Who it affects
Energy research institutions and the Department of Energy will run programs. Geothermal companies and drilling equipment makers will benefit. The public gains access to underground data and results.
One thing to notice
The bill shares underground data from fossil fuel and mining operations. Geothermal researchers can use this data to find new sites.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
1 cosponsor: 1 Democrats.
- May 13, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- May 13, 2026 — Referred to House Committee on Natural Resources and House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology · Congress.gov: “Referred to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, and in addition to the Committee on Natural…”
- May 20, 2026 — Markup held in committee · Congress.gov: “Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held”
- May 20, 2026 — Reported out of committee · Congress.gov: “Ordered to be Reported (Amended) by Voice Vote”
- Jul 20, 2026 — Passed the House · Congress.gov: “On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended Agreed to by voice vote. (text: CR H4667-4668)”
- Jul 20, 2026 — Floor vote scheduled · Congress.gov: “Mr. Babin moved to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
5 groups reported lobbying about this bill. They filed 5 reports from Jun 2026 to Jun 2026.
Those reports show $17,640,000 in lobbying spending. Each report lists about 15 bills. So that money was not all for this bill.
More groups named this bill than 78% of bills with any report.
Pat Harrigan, who sponsored the bill, received $392,425 from PACs for the 2026 election.
- Chamber of Commerce of the U.S.A. — $16,950,000 in 1 report
- Cornell University — $360,000 in 1 report
- Salt River Project — $250,000 in 1 report
- Advanced Environmental Monitoring Holdings (aemh) — $60,000 in 1 report
- Placer County Water Agency — $20,000 in 1 report
Lobbying is legal. These reports show who lobbied about this bill, not what changed.
Words to know
- geothermal — Energy that comes from heat deep inside the Earth.
- supercritical geothermal — The hottest type of geothermal energy found very deep.
- U.S. Geological Survey — A federal agency that studies rocks, minerals, and resources.
- lobbying — Trying to influence lawmakers about a bill. Companies and groups pay people to do this.
- PACs — Groups that collect money and give it to candidates for office.
- sponsored — To sponsor a bill is to introduce it in Congress and put your name on it.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (13,931 characters) on Jun 3, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 14,206 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 20, 2026 · page rendered 2026-09-17.
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